Local hospitals and health boards are about to come under the microscope
of the Office de la Langue Française, according to a letter obtained
by Alliance Quebec.

In the July 14 letter sent to the 69 health-care institutions across
Quebec that have bilingual status, Office president Nicole René outlined
her plans for a Sept. 17 meeting.

The institutions will be reminded at the meeting that they must be able,
at all times, to provide health-care services in French.

"Not all personnel have to be bilingual, but there should always
be someone available who is able to offer services in French," René
said in an interview yesterday.

The letter comes at a time when regional access plans for English-language
health care have yet to be approved by the Quebec government. A decision
has been delayed until late August or September.

"It's disgusting, frankly," said Michael Hamelin, president
of Alliance Quebec.

"For them to find the time to drag in English-language institutions
for 'consultation,' it's the kind of intimidation we're seeing day in and
day out."

The Sept. 17 meeting is the first review of an agreement made with the
Office back in 1989, in which the 69 hospitals and health boards pledged
to provide plentiful access to French-language services.

René said the need for the meeting became clear after a number
of complaints, similar to that lodged at the Jewish General Hospital last
summer, came to her attention.

A patient at the Jewish General claimed that a nurse had told him to
speak in English, an episode that sparked spirited demonstrations by French-language
activists.

René's letter is the latest instalment in what has been a very
active summer for the Office. Anglophone Web sites, business cards and street
signs have all come under intense scrutiny in recent months.

Pierre-Etienne Laporte, Liberal language critic and former chairman of
the Office, said the stepped-up campaign bears the fingerprints of Culture
Minister Louise Beaudoin.

"There's no question that these people are responding to directives
from above," said Laporte, contacted at his cottage in Kamouraska.

"Louise Beaudoin is an interventionist, a hard-liner, and bureaucrats
respond to orders. There's no mystery in that."

Local hospitals are confident that their bilingual services will pass
any review with flying colours.

"Our centre provides service in both official languages," said
Jonathan Goldbloom, spokesman for the McGill University Health Centre, which
includes the Royal Victoria and Montreal General. "We always try to
respond in the language the person is most comfortable in. So we're meeting
that objective."

Officials at the Jewish General and the Montreal Island regional health
board concurred, adding that the letter from the Office probably isn't a
prelude to a major crackdown.

"Since 1983, the Office de la Langue Française has recognized
... that certain health and social services establishments provide a majority
of services to the public in a language other than French," the letter
reads.

"Nevertheless, the recognized organizations ... must be able to
communicate with the public in French and provide services in French when
they're needed."

Others invited to the Sept. 17 "information session" include
representatives from health-care workers' unions, the provincial health
ministry, and the Quebec Hospital Association.

Whether or not hospital and health-board representatives choose to attend
the optional meeting, René said, all of the targeted establishments
will have to undergo a rigorous self-evaluation of their French-language
services. Reports must be submitted to the Office by December.

"It's going to mean more bureaucratic work for hospitals at a time
when they're having a hard time delivering health care," Hamelin said.

"This omnipotent agency is going to bury them in bureaucracy on
the basis of nothing."